Monday, May 18, 2009

Fried Chicken Wings (Tavuk Kanat Kızartması)

As we all know, fried foods are always delicious, but not very healthy as fried foods contain excessive oil. As a substitute, I have turned to broiling foods that are conventionally fried. I seldom fry anything as I try to minimize the oil intake into our bodies. In fact, for the longest time, I turned away from frying completely as I was probably influenced by my uncle who to my knowledge has never ever fried anything.

In the past couple years, I realized that I was longing for some of the traditional foods that I grew up with (such as İçli Köfte and Fried Potatoes) that taste best when fried. Now, once in a blue moon, I do fry either potatoes or chicken and of course İçli Köfte.

One day, I felt like having some comfort food and decided to allow us to eat something unhealthy (chicken wings)! The oil I used is incomparable to what most restaurants use. In my house, canola or olive oil is used for frying and for regular cooking only olive oil is used. The chicken wings used in this recipe are organic as I purchase organic poultry and meat. What I am trying to get to is that, these chicken wings are much healthier home made than buying them at a restaurant.

With a simple Mediterranean twist on the chicken wings, they had a great taste.

18 comments:

Yes deep fried is not good.. but once in a blue moon i guess we can allow ourselves. the flavors sound delicious here. I use canola to deep fry, for it is said that the olive oil loses all its goodness when the temperature reaches as high a frying temperature. for daily cooking i mostly use olive.. sometimes canola.

i absolutely love chicken wings fried - i had never eaten them before i made them myself, and i'm absolutely hooked on them. they probably are unhealthy, but as you said, it's ok if you make them yourself!

I think it sounds delightful and easy to. Sure I'm very impressed that you fry chicken wings at home but why eggs? Is it a Mediterranean way of cooking? Don't you think the wings will become heavier like icli kofte balls, lol:)

I have the same concern with you about frying. Although I love fried potatoes, I hardly make it. But as long as it's a rare occasion, I agree with you, we should allow us to break our rules. And I can feel the appetizing smell coming from this fantastic chicken photo. For içli köfte, I always prefer the boiled version instead of fried one. I think when it is fried, it becomes rather dry.

Your choice to broil foods that are conventionally fried is something I’m going to try in an attempt to be healthier. I’m amazed that your uncle never eats anything fried. He may just live forever! Also, the recipe you shared sounds great, and the photo looks delish!

Nihal,I totally agree with you on the frying thing..but I also absolutely agree with the notion that we should just go for what gives us pleasure every once and a while as this too maintains our health! :)

Nihal, to answer your question, dipping chicken in eggs makes the chicken crispy. There are other alternatives such as milk. If you're frying, it'll be heavy anyway, that's why I do not recommend frying too much. So, in my opinion, the eggs won't add too much in terms of heaviness. I am really surprised you've never heard of this :) Many people here in the States fry chicken this way. The spices and parsley add a Mediterranean touch to it.

Sapuche, my uncle who is very health conscious does eat fried foods occasionally; however I've never seen him fry anything. It’s very difficult to avoid fried foods completely!

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As a person who grew up in Southern Turkey on the Mediterranean Sea, cooking and eating Turkish food as well as food from other countries is one of my hobbies which inspired me to create and share this blog.